The utopian aspirations of technology advocates

I’ve been re-visiting some of my Utopian daydreams lately, thoughts that have floated around me since long ago and trying to reconcile or re-connect them to my current life state. Why do I care about the things I do, now? And buried beneath the regular answers concerning gainful employ and such is this deeply held (some would say) naive belief that we can still change the world, for the better.

Concurrently, I’ve been ruminating over the classist dynamic that the intervention of technology establishes. With broadband still a luxury for many (despite President Bushes “Mission Accomplished” stance on broadband penetration) and issues of digital literacy, copyright , and security unresolved and abundant I wonder about the exclusionary utopia we might build here.

8 comments

If you notice, we usually have tech demos that always show us the “World we could be living in” .. like HP cooltown and Smart homes ..

Well, I think we have to look at the overall picture. Although we may not have super high speed connections yet, but there are certainly many projects in the world to help more people get onto the Internet.

To me, an utopian world that is brought on by technology is not about high speed internet, its about the the simple ability to communicate with each other and hopefully, make the world a better place to live in.

To me, an utopian world that is brought on by technology is not blazing fast internet speeds, its about the the simple ability to communicate with each other and hopefully, make the world a better place to live in than what it is currently.